Groups

[vino100]

We are booking the Grand princess March 29th. It looks like a group must have reserved a lot of cabins. How would I find out what group ?

[Thrak]

I tried looking at a theme cruise site but didn't see anything for your cruise. No idea what group might be sailing and Princess won't tell you. If there actually is a group it could be anything. What makes you believe a large group has reserved a lot of cabins?

[jeromep]

I've never known any special interest groups or clubs to book or charter Princess for a cruise.  Typical interests I have which sponsor or hold group cruise vacations are always offering the cruise on Norwegian or Royal Caribbean; never Princess.

[Thrak]

Could be a Red Hat mob!

[SLC1954]

56 minutes ago, jeromep said:

I've never known any special interest groups or clubs to book or charter Princess for a cruise.  Typical interests I have which sponsor or hold group cruise vacations are always offering the cruise on Norwegian or Royal Caribbean; never Princess.

I have done two group cruises with Princess both with 100+ members attending.  I was one of the very few in the group that had cruised with Princess prior to our events.  So, you know that never is not a true statement. :)

[Ombud]

Yeah March 29, 2020 Pacific Northwest Coast has been really unusual. Started out a little high for a 7 day cruise and really went up from there. Higher with each promo and I had to settle for an OF as there weren't any OC when I booked. Now there's 2 but at 40% more. Must have a large group onboard bc there's little to no transaction on the roll call

[Thrak]

One reason we usually book early. Normally we watch as the prices go up. I think the only cruise we've booked that went down was the Northern Lights cruise we leave for shortly. It started out way too high and eventually came down a bit. Oh, and long ago we had a shortie when I still worked and someone on the roll call said it had gone down so I refared and saved a couple hundred dollars. That was nice. Normally though we just watch them go up and up.

[vino100]

My agent said that a group was on board this cruise. Of course princess won’t say who. No mini suites or suites. Yikes I sure wish if the group will take over parts of the ship. I guess I will book a balcony and hope a mini opens up. 

[vino100]

2 minutes ago, Thrak said:

One reason we usually book early. Normally we watch as the prices go up. I think the only cruise we've booked that went down was the Northern Lights cruise we leave for shortly. It started out way too high and eventually came down a bit. Oh, and long ago we had a shortie when I still worked and someone on the roll call said it had gone down so I refared and saved a couple hundred dollars. That was nice. Normally though we just watch them go up and up.

 

We usually book early but my father in law who just turned 90 decided all his kids should join him on this cruise. No flying either way makes it really easy for him. 

Im hoping some reserved cabins will open up. To be continued. 

[drpack]

I was booked on a cruise once with Princess that had a massive size group that was known for being a very rowdy bunch. I found out by accident on a travel website. They even had videos and photos of their last cruise where they took over the pools and many of the bars. After seeing this, I quickly switched to another cruise...

[cr8tiv1]

Princess "claims" it is a privacy issue to name any large group on a cruise.  I have been on at least two cruises where I wish I had rebooked my dates. 

 

The first one was a West Coast Swing group.  They took over Club Fusion every night!.  Closed to other passengers who might want to dance.  That overflowed to the Piazza, Explorer's Lounge, Wheelhouse, and other venues.  It was not fun for other dancers on the same cruise.  

 

I will never do another Halloween cruise.  This was a singles group that travels often with Princess.  Thank goodness that year, Halloween was on the day we boarded.  So they didn't have much time to "celebrate"....but they made up for it the rest of the 10 days.  

 

I don't mind "sharing" the ship.  I do object that I am restricted to where I can go and things I can do because others have taken over the ship.  And a group of 100 or more is very noticeable.  

[Reader0108598]

I booked a cruise once  and found out a large group was on board called I believe the bears! Some of the nicest guys I have met we had no issues. If the hot tub was full and I wanted in one of the guys would sit up on the side for a While.

 

I found out by accident also looking around the travel websites

 I understand the issues sometimes they take over areas.

Edited October 9, 2019 by Reader0108598

[phabric]

I was on a cruise with a group “Bears (not sure the proper name)”, (a gay group) with 300 members.  They would have different events for them.

 

Another Cruise a musical group, they would have private concerts in the theater.

 

Another Cruise, British Isles, there was a conference onboard with their spouses/partners.  They have meetings and events with certain areas.

 

You might find traditional dining is hard to get.  They have lounges reserved for their events during the day/night.

Edited October 9, 2019 by phabric

[MCC retired]

You are right to be concerned if it is indeed a large affinity group .

They will have events that may take over public space.

Forewarned is Forearmed.

[voljeep]

18 minutes ago, phabric said:

I was on a cruise with a group “Bears (not sure the proper name)”, (a gay group) with 300 members.  They would have different events for them.

yep - we were on a Halloween cruise and about 50 of that group stayed over from the previous cruise ... quite a 'shock' when we went to the aft "adult" pool and outrigger bar...

 

Halloween night in the atrium was interesting to say the least ... and very fun ... a good time had by all ...

[Cruiser_1977]

It appears, thanks Google, that this is the first sailing of the Grand with Medallion. Maybe the room block has something to do with that.

[phabric]

25 minutes ago, voljeep said:

yep - we were on a Halloween cruise and about 50 of that group stayed over from the previous cruise ... quite a 'shock' when we went to the aft "adult" pool and outrigger bar...

 

Halloween night in the atrium was interesting to say the least ... and very fun ... a good time had by all ...

I was on a Halloween cruise with them.  I know what you mean about the shock at the aft adult pool, it was their meeting spot.

 

On formal night, one gentleman with braids passed his shoulders and build like a football player, he had on a tux jacket and bridal skirt on the bottom half.

[BarbinMich]

We've done 30+ cruises on Princess and have occasionally have had to "share" the ship with a large group, perhaps with a few hundred people.  Other than their table, etc. in the atrium, it was never a problem.  Since the ships carry 2,000-3,000 pax, a group in the low hundreds, size-wise, hasn't made a whole lot of difference.  I believe this usually happens on one-week cruises to the Caribbean (and probably Mexico on the west coast), as those are the cheapest cruises.  Perhaps this has been because we (a) do the Caribbean in Jan. and (b) usually at least 10-day ones.

[voljeep]

we did a short cruise 5? days out of Tampa a year or so ago ( not Princess)

 

waiting in line early saw a couple of people with Pittsburg Steelers shirts on ... then a couple more... then a lot more

 

of about 2000 on board, 1,000+ were on a themed "Legends of the Steelers" cruise we did not know about before boarding.. couple of times at bars a large group was waiting for drinks, and they would wave me forward so that I didn't have to wait for their entire group.

 

absolutely a great cruise and some of the nicest people we have ever 'met' on a cruise ship

 

I understand they paid big $$ for their cruise and events featuring players and autographs, etc

[phabric]

I have been on a cruise where a motorcycle club (about 30) had their bikes on board. One person would ride the bike off the ship then partner would get on and they would tour the island as a group.  One night, one bike was on display and people were sitting and taking picture.  They paid over $1,000 for bike and insurance for the bikes to be on board.

Edited October 9, 2019 by phabric

[Reader0108598]

We got on a  Royal carribean cruise ship few years back! Seemed like a lot of fanfare going on dummies did not watch football at the time! lol We booked a super bowl cruise with ESPN past players from the pats and the giants!!! We had an aft balcony so we could sit on our balcony and watch the big screen! The retired players and family had a big party right across from us it was so cool!! When we wanted somthing we just went down stairs grabbed a beer and some snacks back to our balcony. So sometimes it turns out great to have a large group on board, we had media aboard and past players everywhere! Disclaimer from New England now Pat's fans ...lol

 

 

 

Edited October 9, 2019 by Reader0108598

[suekay]

36 minutes ago, phabric said:

I have been on a cruise where a motorcycle club (about 30) had their bikes on board. One person would ride the bike off the ship then partner would get on and they would tour the island as a group.  One night, one bike was on display and people were sitting and taking picture.  They paid over $1,000 for bike and insurance for the bikes to be on board.

We've been on a similar cruise and it was really impressive to watch them all roar off on their bikes. We weren't aware of them onboard 

[Coral]

It is also spring break time!

 

Yes, Princess books groups all the time.

[Thrak]

9 hours ago, cr8tiv1 said:

I will never do another Halloween cruise.  This was a singles group that travels often with Princess.  Thank goodness that year, Halloween was on the day we boarded.  So they didn't have much time to "celebrate"....but they made up for it the rest of the 10 days.  

 

We were on a cruise over Halloween that was great but it was a 28 day cruise that happened to include Halloween. We don't dress up but many of the passengers and crew did dress in costume. Some of them were amazingly good. It was a fun night. I can see how a shorter Halloween cruise might attract a more rowdy bunch. On our cruise people kept telling me how young I was. At the time I was 64 so you can see we really didn't have the party demographic on that cruise.

[Thrak]

I don't think it's fair when a group "claims" part of the ship and nobody else can use it. We all paid to use the ship and shouldn't be excluded from areas that are taken over by groups.

Edited October 9, 2019 by Thrak